


Darkest Purity

by Wings



Category: 07-Ghost
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-04
Updated: 2012-01-04
Packaged: 2017-10-28 21:32:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/312386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wings/pseuds/Wings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Your past mistakes <i>do</i> matter - they're a part of you. But they don't define you unless you let them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Darkest Purity

“Frau?” Teito called into the darkness, silently cursing himself for the slight waver in his voice. He stuck out his hand, fumbling for the bark of the nearest tree. Only a quick jog from the road and already the faint but helpful starlight seemed a distant myth as he struggled blindly through the edge of the forest, feeling his way from tree to tree. “Damn it, Frau,” he cursed, “Where are you?!”

Suddenly his hands met cold metal and Teito recognized the feel of the twisting pipes, wires and covering of the Hawkzile. He paused to let his eyes further adjust to the dim shadows and began to just barely see the battered design of the vehicle lying at rest at the edge of what looked like a small clearing.

“Frau?” he called again, louder now that he knew he was in the right place. He squinted, halfheartedly hoping to make out any distinct shape near the edges of the clearing, but he could barely distinguish between trees and cracked stones.

‘Uh, I can’t believe this,’ Teito thought, dropping down on a bare patch of earth, his back leaning against the hawkzile. ‘One time when I actually need to talk to him and he’s gone.’ He leaned forward, pressing his eyelids against his knees. Just above and between his eyes a sharp pain throbbed in time with his pulse telling him he probably shouldn’t have strained his eyes so much in the darkness, but it was too late for that now.

Against his will Teito felt his thoughts turning back to what he had learnt in the last God House.‘Frau… never mentioned his past,’ he thought silently, ‘And I never asked. But would he have even told me if I had?’ Somehow, Teito didn’t think so. In the brief conversation they’d had back at the Birkin House, when Frau had appeared as Zehel, Teito couldn’t shake the feeling of guilt he’d sensed hanging over Frau, and he’d hardly spoken to Teito.

‘But he can’t blame himself for what happened! He could hardly be expected to know how to control his zaiphon at that age!’ But he knew Frau did blame himself and that it would be near impossible to convince him otherwise.

“Uuh,” Teito groaned into his knees. He couldn’t help but feel lost in the situation; unsure of what to do, unsure of what he wanted. He wrapped his arms tighter around his legs.

“Hey brat, you awake?”

Teito jumped at the sudden sound. Realizing he must have fallen asleep, he jerked his head up only to cover his eyes again at the blinding light now set in the middle of the clearing. Peering through half closed lids he could make out the flickering light of a growing fire and the much larger shape of Frau who crouched nearby feeding it dry wood.

Teito glared. “You idiot!” he growled at Frau, though the anger in his voice was diminished slightly by the large yawn that followed. “Why didn’t you answer when I called you before?” He had to clench his teeth together to stop another yawn finding its way out.

Frau turned to glare, rather more menacingly, back at him. “I was out trying to find dry wood for the fire, you ungrateful brat. I could have let you deal with it yourself…,” he gave the fire one last meaningful prod, sending spark spiraling up through the air, before falling back to sit on his own patch of earth. “I don’t need the warmth,” he murmured, almost too quiet to hear. His expression had changed slightly and a little of his energy seemed to shift, leaving a look that Teito couldn’t quite place. 'Regret? Anger? Maybe both…’ It didn’t take much to guess that Frau was thinking about his past.

Teito felt his annoyance fade to be replaced with a tentative feeling of concern. Without thinking, he got up and made his way carefully around the fire to sit awkwardly beside Frau. He remained like that, not looking up and instead staring silently at a patch of dry grass in front of him, trying to ignore the returning pain behind his eyes from the flickering light of the fire. He closed his eyes but the orange light still found its way through his eyelids and the throbbing persisted. He wanted to sleep; to turn his back to the fire and rest his tired eyes, but he needed to speak to Frau first. Needed to try, however futile the attempt, to convince him that what happened hadn’t been his fault.

Teito sighed and opened his eyes.

“Frau-,” he started but stopped again suddenly, slamming his eyes shut again at a particularly sharp stab of pain as his headache protested against the return of light. Teito groaned, frowning against the pain.

“Hey, you okay?” Frau asked and Teito felt him shift beside him as he turned to look down at his apprentice. Before Teito could answer, Frau’s hand, cold in death, was resting lightly on his head.

Teito felt himself blush. “I’m fine!” he snapped, annoyed. He reached up to brush away the cold touch but paused suddenly with his hands on Frau’s wrist as he realized how nice and cool it was on his headache, and how comforting that it was Frau.

His blush deepened as he realized what he was doing and he quickly tried to shove Frau’s hand away again. But Frau only lifted his hand above his head, out of Teito’s reach, and looked at him, eyebrows raised.

“You got a headache?” he guessed, lowering his hand back onto Teito’s head. “I can leave my hand here if you want.”

Though he felt sure his face must be glowing red, he nodded. “Thanks,” he mumbled, looking down. Neither of them said anything for a while. The silence pressed in around them, broken only by the crackling of the flames. After a while Teito opened his mouth but before he could say anything, Frau spoke.

“I can guess what you’re going to say, brat,” he said, speaking to the flames rather then Teito. “But it doesn’t matter. The past is long over.”

Teito frowned and brought his hands up to his face, glaring at the ground through his fingers. “You idiot,” he mumbled into his palms. “Even if-,” he stopped and brought his hands down to his lap. “Even if you say that…,” he shook his head and fell gently sideways to lean lightly against Frau’s cold frame. He felt Frau tense slightly, in his surprise forgetting to keep his hand on Teito’s head, but he didn’t pull away. Teito’s voice was quiet, “It wasn’t your fault, Frau.”

Frau sighed. “Kid…,” but he didn’t continue, just lowered his arm carefully over Teito’s shoulders. Teito held back a shiver at the touch, not wanting Frau to pull away if he thought Teito was too cold. Instead he tucked in his chin, focusing on the warmth of the fire and trying not to think too much about what he was doing and what it could mean.


End file.
